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Friday 21 March 2014

Burwell Windmill


The official opening of the restored windmill (right next door to our home) is April 13th 2014. The windmill now has 4 sails again and it has been fully restored both inside and out . It is a credit to all those who worked on it.


See http://www.burwellmuseum.org.uk.btck.co.uk/StevensMill for more details of the mill and museum which has some amazing exhibits.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Budget - Spring 2014

Although I have not had chance to study it in detail, the 3 year 4% pensioners bond for up to £10000 each looks good. It means my wife and I can get 4% return with low risk on £20000 of joint savings. This is above inflation and a much better rate than competitors. It runs from 2015. Also promising is the new NISA  allowing up to £30000 (joint income) to be sheltered from tax each year starting in July 2014.

Ely


Every week for the next 8 weeks I am attending physio (for my stroke) at the Prince of Wales hospital in the city of Ely.  This was once an RAF hospital.

Ely is a delightful place with a cathedral 1300 years old (LHS). My wife walks into town during my sessions. As a local parishoner she gets free entry too. Down by the river Ouse is lovely too and the market , although small, is delightful.

Years ago, during WW2, my dad (see RHS) had his appendix removed in the old Bishop's Palace in Ely (RHS).  He flew Lancaster bombers (see below) in the Pathfinders and was very lucky to survive the war. He crash landed once on the way home. He rarely spoke of his WW2 experiences: I think he did not really like the idea of helping to kill innocent civilians. He was much happier living his simple rural life in Devon after the war years . Wars are so bad for everyone on all sides. It humbles me to realise how young he was in those days: 20-26yrs old only. In the last months of the war he had a young child too. I never realised how brave he was until it was too late to tell him.

The Bishop's Palace,which dates back to the 15th century, was a Sue Ryder home, but since 2012 has been the home for the Kings School's 6th form.
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/lancaster-bomber1-300x200.jpg

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Fake coins

Apparently 3% of  pound coins in circulation are fakes i.e. forgeries. Next year (2017) a new 12-sided 1 pound coin is to be introduced to all but eliminate fakes. Not sure if the 2 pound coin is being replaced too?

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-2663286 .

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73667000/jpg/_73667988_73667987.jpg

Junk mail

Don't know about you, but I am fed up with junk mail that typically is around 50-80% of the post we get nowadays. I know this is how the Royal Mail bolsters its profits, but what a waste!

In our case it goes straight into the recycling bin and does not even get opened often. If the post was properly nationalised they would not need to deliver this crap. It saddens me to think jobs depend on the delivery of such rubbish. Better these people were employed in something productive actually adding real value to things. This is the sort of work that really adds no value to the lives of decent people. Such worthless work cannot continue for too long into the future. In time all work will add real value.

Although signed up to the Telephone Preference Service it does not seem to stop calls starting in the UK but coming in via foreign numbers. Overall I still think it is a "good idea".

10m Antenna Effectiveness

One of my hobbies is amateur radio.

Comparing my 10m (28MHz) signals with those of others, I suspect my antenna may be down in effectiveness compared with better optimised systems. My 2W is equivalent to 200mW from the better equipped stations. When fitter (my darn stroke) I may try changing the 10m antenna for something better. A vertical 1/2 wave would be less directional on transmit but might be noisier on receive.

At the present time, my poor state of health is preventing me doing too much outdoors. For example, climbing a ladder  is quite out of the question, so I have to live with the antennas I have.

Bored with routine (stroke)

I am tied to my liquid feed for 7.25hrs a day: food fed directly into my stomach through what they call a peg feed. Luckily I can disconnect this if we go out for a walk but I am in my chair most of the day.  Although I now also eat food and drinks by mouth, these don't always go down too well. I am still trying to work out what affects this. Breakfast Weetabix and banana are the best and easiest to eat, maybe because I am less tired?

To be honest, my stroke is getting me down: same routine, still unable to be free of the peg feed and still feeling so giddy and exhausted after the smallest amount of physical exertion - it gets me down. I battle on in the hope of better times ahead.

Normality seems a distant dream: I long to do the things I used to do and to be able to eat and drink as I was once able to.